Ten Useful Websites for Techie Librarians

May 29, 2014

Ten Useful Websites for Techie Librarians

As a techie librarian, I am frequently overwhelmed by the number of tech blogs and resources that show up in my feed reader and on the internet. It is difficult to know which stories and sites are important, and which can be passed by. I expect that I’m not alone in this feeling, and I’d like to share my favorite library tech sites in no particular order:

1) Codecademy – http://www.codecademy.com/
Need to learn JavaScript, Ruby or HTML? Codecademy provides free interactive online tutorials that will help you learn these languages and more. It’s great for visual learners, such as myself, and let’s be honest – who doesn’t like earning badges for completing a task?

2) Lifehacker – http://lifehacker.com/
Lifehacker posts about tips and hacks to make your life easier. I frequently learn about tweaks or new software from this blog.

3) The Librarian in Black – http://librarianinblack.net/
If you haven’t read Sarah Houghton’s blog, you really should. Sarah posts about issues in libraries and frequently touches on technology. She is not afraid to voice controversial opinions.

4) Teleread – http://www.teleread.com/
Teleread covers news related to ebooks and online publishing. The blog also includes a section specific to libraries, so you can easily find relevant library news and stories.

5) Mashable – http://mashable.com/social-media/
Mashable posts news about social media and other Web 2.0 systems. Click on the Social Media tag to bypass the entertainment stories.

7) In the Library with the Lead Pipe – http://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org
Although not specific to technology issues, In the Library with the Lead Pipe posts peer reviewed journal articles that challenge many preconceptions of librarianship.

9) Agnostic, Maybe – http://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/
Andy Woodworth blogs about libraries, technology and life as a librarian in New Jersey. I especially enjoy reading his opinions on ebooks and licensing.

10} ALA Techsource – http://www.alatechsource.org/blog
Last, but not least, the ALA Techsource blog provides updates on technology news and initiatives that are occurring in other libraries.

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Naomi House

Naomi House, MLIS, is the founder and publisher of the popular webzine and jobs list INALJ.com (formerly I Need a Library Job).
Founded in October 2010 with the assistance of her fellow Rutgers classmate, Elizabeth Leonard, INALJ’s social media presence has grown to include Facebook, Twitter and a LinkedIn group, in addition to the interviews, articles and jobs found on INALJ.com. INALJ.com has had over 13 Million page hits and helped over 6,000 librarians find employment! Through grassroots marketing, word of mouth and a real focus on exploring unconventional resources for job leads, INALJ grew from a subscription base of 20 friends to a website with over 500,000 visits in a month.
Naomi believes that well-sourced quantity is quality in this narrow job market and INALJ reflects this many new jobs published daily. She has also written for the 2011, 2012 & 2013 LexisNexis Government Info Pro. She presents whenever she can, most recently thrice at the American Library Association's Annual Conference as well as breakout talk presenter at OCLC EMEA in Cape Town, South Africa and as a keynote speaker at the Virginia Library Association annual meeting, at the National Press Club, McGill University, the University of the Emirates, Dubai, MLIS program and the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Naomi was a Reference, Marketing and Acquisitions Librarian for a contractor at a federal library outside Washington, DC, and has relocated to New Orleans, LA. She runs her husband’s moving labor website, KhanMoving.com, fixes and sells old houses and assists her husband cooking delicious Pakistani food as well. She has heard of spare time but hasn’t encountered it lately. She pronounces INALJ as eye-na-elle-jay. View all posts by Naomi House →

Although you could easily create a list of 100 of the most useful tech sites for libraries, just wanted to throw GCFLearnFree.org’s hat into the ring. A lot of libraries already use us (which is great! Thanks!) but just in case some don’t know about us, GCFLearnFree.org has free self-paced tutorials in a variety of tech topics, from computer basics and Internet Safety to Social Media and Microsoft Office. We also have instructor led online classes in Microsoft Office that offers CEUs and Certificates of Completion. This site is most likely a better resource for your patrons, rather than librarians but even tech savvy librarians may make use of some of our Social Media or Office tutorials. Just wanted to pass it along. Thanks! – Jessica